'Schizophrenic's' brutal slaying of Scots dog walker 'could not have been predicted'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A 'schizophrenic's' brutal and unprompted fatal attack on an elderly dog walker could not have been predicted despite the killer failing to attend mental health appointments, a judge has ruled.Frank Kinnis, 83, suffered fatal blunt force trauma injuries after David Johnstone punched, kicked and stamped on his head in Birkenhill Woods, Elgin on October 21 2019.

He died in hospital later the same day. Johnstone, 38, was originally tried for murdering the retired dairyman but was instead locked up at Carstairs State Hospital indefinitely after a judge ruled he could not be held criminally responsible.A fatal accident inquiry held at Elgin Sheriff Court heard that Johnstone, from Elgin, who had used cannabis regularly since his teens, had been referred for psychiatric assessments.

The doctors handling the referral chose not to follow-up after Johnstone failed to appear for his appointment, just under four months before he viciously attacked Kinnis and two others.But Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov concluded they could not have foreseen the unspeakable violence, noting: "The untimely death of Frank Yule Kinnis was a horribly tragic event arising from a most unfortunate combination of unpredictable circumstances."The inquiry heard that Johnstone's father Richard made two calls to GPs and an out of hours service on June 24 2019 regarding his son's mental health.

This led to an appointment the next day with Dr Kerry Anne Cattanach, a GP from Elgin's Maryhill Medical Practice, who referred Johnstone to adult psychiatric services after diagnosing psychotic symptoms and "possibly a schizophrenic type illness".In evidence submitted on the GP's behalf, she said there were "no circumstances" justifying detaining Johnstone in hospital.